BLAST!

When it comes to selling sustainability there are essentially two kinds of people; those who believe in what you are selling and those who believe that what you’re selling is good for the bottom line. While some have belief in both, most are more dominant in one way of thinking.

We’ve all been there; attempting to get approval to implement a new “green” idea or trying to get folks to participate in an existing program, only to get rejected or find out that your message isn’t quite getting through to everyone. So what’s the problem, doesn’t everyone want to do something good for the environment?

The truth is everyone wants to be greener, just some of us are thinking more in terms of Benjamin Franklin’s rather than Al Gore. The key is to appeal to both audiences’ at once.

For instance let’s say you start a simple campaign to get people to use less disposable coffee cups. Most people look at a disposable coffee cup and see nothing more than trash. And for the most part both types of people see little value in their busy day to save one cup from the landfill. But if for example you make the argument that your company uses 50,000 cups per year at a rate of 150 per person and a cost of $7,000 (enough to buy everyone a reusable mug) and those cups require 20 trees, 2,400 kWh of energy, and 12,500 gallons of water to manufacture, and generate 6 tons of CO2 in the process…  Now you’ve made a value proposition and created a connection with both audiences that each and every coffee cup has inherent value beyond its presumed purpose. You can even get a little crazy by taking it up another level and discuss the costs and impacts that 23 billion (~76 per person) disposable coffee cups used each year in the U.S. has. (BTW – It’s over 9 million trees, 2 billion kWh of electricity, nearly 6 billion gallons of water, generating 2.9 million tons of CO2 and costing well over 2 billion dollars a year for starters.) Even good old Ben would think we are all a little crazy with this one!

While we won’t be able to make a business case for every single sustainability idea or get our message through to everyone, we are in a perfect storm of sorts with the economic downturn, and business’ are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to looking for ways to save money. Let’s face it: saving is back in style, so let’s ride the proverbial wave and look under every rock we can find and learn to speak in terms of the business. There are tons of ways to measure the costs and impacts of any particular sustainability project. When the low hanging fruit starts to dry up be creative, talk about how a project will improve your company’s reputation, or reduce impact on the community or other intangibles that can create added business value. And finally when it comes to facts, get them right or you will lose your credibility quickly.

About the Author

Rob Harsh

Rob Harsh lives and works in Boulder, Colorado where he manages Corporate Environmental Sustainability at Amgen Inc. With more than 17 years experience in the environmental field Rob’s career has spanned numerous industries, working in the chemical, automotive, beverage and pharmaceutical fields. Previous to joining Amgen in 2007 Rob managed sustainability programs at Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon National Parks in Utah and Arizona. Rob holds a BS degree in Environmental Health from Illinois State University.

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